Letohrádek Hvězda

Letohrádek Hvězda is a Renaissance summer palace standing in Prague's Liboc district (Prague 6), roughly 7 kilometers west of the city center, inside a former royal game reserve that shares its name. Its unusual floor plan — a symmetrical six-pointed star — makes it one of the most distinctive Renaissance buildings anywhere in Central Europe.

Who built the star-shaped palace, and why that shape?

The building went up in 1555–1556 to a design personally drawn up by Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol, who at the time served as governor of Bohemia. Ferdinand took an unusually hands-on role in shaping the project, choosing the star layout instead of the square or circular plans more typical of country villas in that era. He built it as a gift for Philippine Welser, the daughter of a wealthy merchant family, whom he had married in secret — a match the Habsburg court kept quiet for years because of the difference in social rank between the two.

Where did the surrounding game reserve come from?

The land beneath the reserve once belonged to the Benedictine monastery at Břevnov. In 1530, King Ferdinand I of Habsburg bought the forested area near White Mountain, known as Malejov, and turned it into an enclosed hunting park stocked with game for the royal court. It took another quarter century before his son built a summer residence inside that same park.

What happened here during the Battle of White Mountain?

On Sunday, November 8, 1620, the Battle of White Mountain — a decisive clash of the Thirty Years' War — was fought right alongside the reserve. The right flank of the Bohemian Estates' army anchored itself against the high perimeter wall of the game park, pulling the grounds around the summer palace directly into the fighting. The battle lasted only an hour or two and ended in defeat for the Estates' forces, effectively crushing the Bohemian Revolt against Habsburg rule. The consequences for Bohemia were severe and long-lasting, ushering in forced re-Catholicization and intensified Germanization of public life. The park itself came out badly damaged by the fighting and the troop movements that followed, and it continued to serve military rather than hunting purposes for years afterward.

What is inside the palace?

A plain, almost austere exterior gives no hint of what waits inside. Between 1556 and 1560, Italian craftsmen from northern Italy, working under a sculptor identified as Antonio Brocco, covered the ground-floor interior in elaborate stucco work. The ceiling is divided into 334 individual fields filled with reliefs depicting scenes from classical mythology alongside animal figures and ornamental patterns. This stucco decoration, rather than the facade, is generally regarded as the building's most valuable feature.

What can visitors see at Letohrádek Hvězda today?

Between 1948 and 1952, architect Pavel Janák renovated the interior to prepare it as a museum space. The Alois Jirásek Museum opened there in 1951, and an exhibition on painter Mikoláš Aleš was added in 1964; both remained in place until 1996. Following further restoration, the Museum of Literature (part of the Museum of National Literature) reopened the building in 2000. Since 2017, the ground floor has held a permanent exhibition on Ferdinand of Tyrol and the architecture of Hvězda, while the basement displays a model of the Battle of White Mountain. The upper floors now host temporary exhibitions, concerts, conferences, and social events.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the building have a star shape? Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol personally chose the symmetrical six-pointed star layout when designing the palace, a plan without real precedent among residences of its era in Central Europe.

Who was the palace built for? Ferdinand built it for Philippine Welser, a wealthy merchant's daughter he had secretly married before starting construction.

Did the palace play a role in the Battle of White Mountain? Yes. The wall enclosing the game reserve served as a defensive line for the right flank of the Bohemian Estates' army during the 1620 battle, and combat took place directly around the grounds.

What is the main highlight of the interior? The Renaissance stucco decoration of the ground floor, created between 1556 and 1560 by Italian craftsmen — a ceiling split into 334 fields showing mythological scenes and animal motifs.

What museum operates there now? Since 2017, the ground floor has featured a permanent exhibition on Ferdinand of Tyrol and the building's architecture, with a model of the Battle of White Mountain in the basement; from 1951 to 1996 the same rooms housed the Alois Jirásek and Mikoláš Aleš museum.